​11500 S. BeloiT, worth IL

Year: 2015

TOURERS: Bryan, LAURA, MAGIC MIKE

COSTS: $8

CHAINSAWS: 4.5/5

Nightmare at the Terrace is one of our favorite local haunts. We've been visiting this one since it opened and we always make a point of getting there each season. The haunt is held in a park district building, and makes good use of the large amount of space it has. Visitors enter through a set of double doors, and once they close the haunt is eerily quiet. There are numerous scenes throughout, all connected via corridors that are dark but not pitch black, so visibility is always decent. Scenes range from from indoor scenes like bedrooms and funeral parlors, to outdoor scenes like cornfields, swamps, and even an abandoned shack in the woods.

One of our favorite scenes this year included the very first room, which was dark and filled with fog. As we entered, an actor emerged from out of the fog, wearing a burlap sack as a mask. This actor clapped their hands twice and another actor, similarly attired, appeared in front of us. They then got together behind us and followed us into the next room, clapping their hands together twice in succession the entire time. Odd, but very creative.

We also enjoyed the room of mirrors. Last year this was in a circle, but this time the room was in the shape of an “S." As we walked through, actors clad in black came out at us. The configuration of the room made it difficult to tell if the actors were in front of us, behind us, or even just reflections. It was a nice little setup. Following this was a dark maze area with an actor who guided us using his voice, challenging us to find him, but remaining just out of our reach. Occasionally he would jump out at us, using a flashlight to illuminate himself briefly. It was a nice change to the typical dark maze in a haunt.

The actors inside are mostly younger, perhaps 10-15 or so. They perform well, though, getting into their roles and remaining in character. They also tend not to be simple screamers. Some are, of course, depending on the needs of a given scene, but others are silently creepy, which is quite effective, especially when actors are younger and shorter than some visitors.

Some good actors included Santa Claus (yes, Santa Claus!), the actors in the first room, a spiderlike guy who jumped down onto the floor and scuttled around like an insect, the dark maze guy, and a silent clown who followed us all the way from his room into the next, peeking around the corner to stare at us as we left. Of course we have to give special mention to the bunny. We love the bunny because it brings back good memories of our first visit to Nightmare at the Terrace, where we saw the bunny in a cage, covered in blood, chopping the heads off of stuffed animals. He followed us through the entire haunt, and we have seen him each year since, always in a slightly different scene. The costumer has seen better days, but seeing the bunny always puts a smile on our faces!

We also have to say that this year Nightmare at the Terrace had a brilliant scene at the end which we were not expecting. Like a lot of haunts, Nightmare at the Terrace usually has a chainsaw guy at the end. Thus, we were waiting for him to show up as we walked to the exit doors. However, we were instead greeted by an actor, not in costume, who congratulated us on making it through the haunt and asked us how we liked it. He explained that the chainsaw guy was on a break, and pointed people to the exit. Since the actors actually were on break when we first arrived, we thought nothing of this at all. We even passed by a chainsaw next to a chair which we assumed belonged to the chainsaw actor.

Commentary

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However, the chainsaw guy was hiding in the dark right before the exit, and as we started to exit, he started up his chainsaw and whispered "run!" It was a great moment, and one that startled us and had us laughing at the same time.

We loved Nightmare at the Terrace this year - it's perhaps our favorite year out of all of the times we've visited, and that's saying a lot. It's also a good value at only $8, so go check it out!